First English edition. "Clavigero was a native of Vera Cruz (born 1731, died at Bologna, 1787), a Jesuit and a thorough antiquarian, who spent thirty years of active research into the archaeology and antiquities of Mexico. His book, published originally in Italian, is a mine of precious historical documents, and contains valuable lists of others in the Mendoza, the Vatican, and the Boturini collections. All the other books that have been elaborated since on the same subject, instead of superseding Clavigero's, have tended rather to magnify its importance." - Stevens.